1. Business is the most popular prospective major across the board.

This is noteworthy data considering a recent piece from Businessweek, which showed that across all academic disciplines, the major that saw the biggest salary increase was business. Are high school students becoming more informed and heading where the money is? Or is the improving economy making students braver when it comes to working in business fields?

2. Differences between public and private high schools – Average SAT/ACT scores of Niche users:

Public High School

Private Religious HS

Private Non-Religious HS

SAT Math

606

609

649

SAT Verbal

602

618

650

SAT Writing

600

619

654

ACT Math

26

26

28

ACT English

27

28

29

ACT Reading

27

28

29

ACT Science

26

26

28

Among Niche users, we found a statistically significant difference between SAT/ACT scores of students at public high schools versus students at private non-religious high schools, with students scoring lower at public high schools.

3. All students seem to be considering the same high-profile (and expensive) schools.

4. Humanities majors are not all that well-represented when it comes to the top 10 majors students are considering.

The humanities crisis has been in the news recently, especially with the report “The Heart of the Matter,” which calls for an increased “investment in research and discovery” when it comes to humanities academic disciplines.This Niche data supports recent progressions toward STEM majors and study, as highlighted in this Inside Higher Ed article that states: “The data suggest a clear national trend away from the humanistic disciplines toward those that seem to offer a different kind of promise or outcome: a vocational utility or practical applicability.”

5. Yet, the humanities disciplines seem to be more valued by students attending private institutions.

Communications and English majors both appear in the top 10 prospective majors for high school seniors at both private religious and private non-religious high schools, whereas neither major appears in the top 10 prospective majors for public high school seniors.